Tom Izzo
Tom Izzo (born January 30, 1955)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: Michigan State Spartans
Current conference: Big Ten Conference
Michigan State record: 707-295 (.706)
Overall record: 707-295 (.706)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 1 (2000)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 26 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 15 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2023)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 8 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019)
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 2 (1996, 1997)
- Big Ten Regular Season Champion: 10 (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2020)
- Big Ten Tournament Champion: 6 (1999, 2000, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019)
Awards:
- AP Coach of the Year: 1 (1998)
- NABC Coach of the Year: 2 (2001, 2012)
- Henry Iba Award: 1 (1998)
- Clair Bee Coach of the Year: 1 (2005)
- Big Ten Coach of the Year: 3 (1998, 2009, 2012)
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award (2011)
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2016)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1995-present | Michigan State |
| 1983-1995 | Michigan State (asst) |
| 1979-1983 | Northern Michigan (asst) |
Tom Izzo Facts
- Thomas Michael Izzo
- Born January 30, 1955
- Hometown: Iron Mountain, Michigan
- Alma Mater: Northern Michigan University (1977)
- Attended Iron Mountain HS (MI), where he played basketball, football and ran track
- Izzo is best friends with former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci, who was a HS classmate at Iron Mountain
- Played three seasons with the NMU Wildcats for head coach Glenn Brown, where he was voted team MVP and received Division II All-America honors as a senior in 1977
- First head coaching job was at Ishpeming High School in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
- Became an assistant coach at his alma mater, Northern Michigan, in 1979, under his former head coach Glenn Brown
- Joined the coaching staff at Michigan State in 1983, spending 12 seasons as an assistant to legendary head coach Jud Heathcote
- Took over as the Spartans head coach in 1995 following Heathcote‘s retirement
- After two-straight NITs to start his career, Izzo has led Sparty to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1998 (excluding 2020)
- In 2023, Izzo got his 25th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, breaking the all-time D-I record
- Won the NCAA National Championship in 2000, the first of his career and the second for the Spartans (also won in 1979)
- Surpassed Heathcote as the program’s all-time winningest coach on November 29, 2009
- Reached the 600-win milestone in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in March 2019
- Has won the Big Ten regular season title ten times and claimed six Big Ten Tournament crowns
- One of five NCAA head coaches to have reached the NCAA D-I Final Four eight times
- After two-straight NITs to start his career, Izzo has led Sparty to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1998 (excluding 2020)
Tom Izzo Coaching Tree
- Jim Boylen (Chicago Bulls, Utah)
- Tom Crean (Georgia, Indiana, Marquette)
- Mike Garland (Cleveland State)
- Brian Gregory (South Florida, Georgia Tech, Dayton)
- Stan Heath (Eastern Michigan, Lakeland Magic, South Florida, Arkansas, Kent State)
- Stan Joplin (Toledo)
- Maurice Joseph (George Washington)
- Mark Montgomery (Detroit Mercy, Northern Illinois)
- Dwayne Stephens (Western Michigan)
- Drew Valentine (Loyola IL)
- Doug Wojcik (College of Charleston, Tulsa)
